


Gunmetal Renegades

by HeidernLion



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:08:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24570583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeidernLion/pseuds/HeidernLion
Summary: [OC Backstory / Roleplay / One-shot warm-up prose]One year ago, a rare Veena from the high peaks of western Othard appeared in Radz-at-Han started sweeping stages of local venues with her melodic range. Despite her growing spot in the limelight, she keeps her origins under close guard. Two years ago, a sharp-shooting Keeper fled the Shroud for unknown reasons and made a name for himself in the criminal underbelly of the glistening city, baring allegiance to no one, but rapidly proving his worth as a mercenary of the highest quality. Three years ago, the Tiger clan of Raen-SunSeekers from the hills of Yanxia began to splinter and die off, but one daughter of the RainCaller Miqo'ra has made her way to the slave markets of the Hannish Nobles. The Veena and the Keeper both attempt to rescue the RainCaller from a shady auction, leading to the formation of quite a strange trio.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Gunmetal Renegades

**Author's Note:**

> My work often features mature themes, such as death and traumatic experiences. Warnings will be used in the case of any potentially triggering descriptions, but otherwise there still might be mention.
> 
> Featured OCs:  
> Fjon "Sorch" Sorchy  
> Khova'to Epocan  
> Ts'hana Shibunuri  
> C'senija "Sena" Pahlo

Mouth agape with quaking breaths, like a volcano just before eruption. Long black nails rattling the gravel beneath her quivering hands.

“Monster!” screeched a woman as she ran sobbing, footprints dimpling the muddy soil as she stumbled towards the eviscerated corpse of a Veena man sprawled upon the drenched ground. A small child hid behind a trunk, peering out cautiously and clutching his chest.

“It must be the Mist! This one goes all crazy when she senses it!” Cried the first in a chorus of voices.  
“She was kicked out of our village for it!”  
“Yeah, ours too!”  
“She doesn’t belong anywhere near people!”  
“I’m just glad the child is okay!”

With a gasp, gentle pink eyes locked onto the child’s own-- dry and blank. Despite the violent scene before the boy, something was peaceful about his expression. “Thank you,” he mouthed gently, “for saving me.”

She was alone in The Wood, alone in the desert, alone in the city. No matter her environment or how many surrounded her, she was always alone, cast out and snubbed the moment she felt her heartbeat turn to heavy breaths and a pounding in her skull. One flare of her lapine nostrils and a twitch of her tall ears and she was overcome with a visceral rage.

======

“You kick an innocent animal enough times and you chip away at that innocence. It becomes hostile, and then what? It’s treated like a menace; like it's been that way all along.” He muttered, tossing another lowball glass of gold down his throat.

“So the trial is tomorrow, isn’ it?” Inquired the woman behind the bar, brushing a thick lion’s mane of tawny locks from her cold blue eyes.

He chuckled, returning the cigar to his lips and scratching the silver-tinged lilac whiskers on his chin, “Life’s enough of a trial as it is. By the time the morning sun hits the drool on those pointy-eared bastards’ faces, I’ll be long gone.”

She slid another glass down the smooth rosewood, leaning forward. He took a moment to admire the pure white marks dotting her chest and shoulders from beneath her honey yellow top, almost missing her next question, “Where to?”

The Keeper shook his head, “Not even your ears will be graced with that information. I’m a poacher. Keeping my whereabouts a secret is part of the game.”

“Seems you lost that game.”  
“Oh, Sena dear. You mock me.”  
“Always, Ace.”

======

Radz-at-Han, the city of glitz and glamour. Outsiders whisper its glory and dream of seeing it with their own eyes. Those who make way to the bustling trade city regale the world with tales of its beauty and life, but few truly see the death and decay at its roots.

A tall, limestone wall surrounds the city, said to be a means of protection from the harsh sand storms of the desert island, but it truly and adds to its mystery. Those keen to the city’s darkness know it only exists to divide the alleged “gem” from outsiders who know and speak its truths.

“Up next we have the rarest specimen you will see tonight— if not ever!” The crowd let out a boisterous cacophony of oo’s and ah’s, an undulating sea of many faces, yet all shrouded in masks.

“Hailing from the rice fields and sprawling mountains of Yanxia, the elusive tiger clan of Seekers were once nearly wiped out of existence! Without a Nunh, they would have surely died out, but fortunately, a Raen from Doma stepped in. Some didn’t agree with this option. I mean,” the man in the middle of the stage chuckled, “Who wants to pollute their own bloodline with that of an outsider!” 

He paused for a moment, grinning as the crowd let forth an array of scoffs, boo’s, and other choice remarks.

“But! Those that remained gave birth to what became known as the Callers of the Rain Miqo’ra. Some were born more Raen than Miqote, and some, the opposite. Here today we have for you a young girl who has the perfect balance of both— a rarity even among her fellow Raincallers!”

Outrage and amusement began to clash among the onlookers.

“Stripes covered in scales, tail and ears baring both soft fur and sharp spine, cold slender pupils more reptile than feline. As a former citizen of Doma, she’ll work hard, but she’ll be quite a sight to watch as she’s scrubbing floors, serving you dinner, or maybe something a little more… pleasing. She’s sure to fetch you a hefty income when she’s a little older, too!”

“Starting bids at five million Gil!”

“Fifty million!” Only subtle gasps echo’ed from the filigreed walls of the auditorium.  
“Fifty-one million!”  
“One hundred million!” The girl in the middle of the stage clenched her hands, bound by cuffs behind her back. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and a hardly distinguishable grin crept slowly over her cheeks.

“One hundred five million!”

Pop.

The last bidder fell to the ground with a hefty thud of his bloated body as red poured from a small hole in the middle of his forehead. Gasps echoed around him, but the participants remained seated.

“O-one hundred seven milli-”

Pop.

“One hund-”

Pop.

“Idiots… What leads one to prioritize greed over their own lives?” Coo’ed a hushed voice from the rafters, wisteria silver ears twitching from two slits of a brown leather cowboy hat, adorned with an assortment of Gryphon feathers.

POP. The auctioneer fell in a bloodied heap. It was only then panic broke out, but in all the screams and commotion, the errant sniper took his eyes off the stage for a moment. As he refocused, a flash of white and gentle pink dashed past: a female figure with the ears and agility of a jackrabbit.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Each shot missed its mark. The woman scooped the fawn-toned Miqo’ra beneath her arm, leaping into the terrified crowd, expertly stopping the sniper’s attacks. He gazed around, looking for any sign of either of them, but they vanished as quickly as the white rabbit graced that golden stage. The crowds thinned as everyone made their escape.

“Who was that. Where did she--” A sharp crack to the back of his head and he tumbled from his position, dangling by a tether on his belt, spinning helplessly. He coiled his gloved fingers around the taut cable and met his eyes with the barrel of his own gun, secured to the beam he’d set himself upon.

“D-d-don’t fire that! It’ll--”

BOOM. Thud. A seat beneath the rafters exploded in a thick cloud of velvet and down, “...shoot my head off…” As the debris settled, the Miqo’te marksman squinted. Just behind the seat was the rabbit, flopped across two seats and rubbing her shoulder. “New to this, lass?”

“Who are you?” She inquired calmly, pointing to the man now making his way back up his tether,  
“Who are you?” He asked back.  
“I asked first.”  
“Well I’m the one with the gun...”  
“Are you threatening me?”  
“Sure seems that way, dear.”  
“Well I’m the one who took your mark!” Not once did either of them raise their voices or show any signs of frustration.  
“My… what?”  
“The Raincaller’s in good hands now and you lo-- Huh!?”

Before she could finish her bold statement, two Hyur in traditional Hingan attire emerged with the girl, but not as a prisoner. She stood calmly, hands over a harmonica held over the lap of her long linen skirt.

“Thank you, uh… ‘Ace’, for rescuing our daughter.”

The pale hare pulled herself from her awkward positioning, eyes bold with shock as she noticed the marks on the mens’ uniforms, “The Shibunuri syndicate!?” Her attention switched to the man now unlatching his belongings from the steel beam above, “And wait… ‘Ace’ as in… Blazin’ Ace!?”

“None other,” he remarked as he landed, retracting his grapple, “Don’t say it too much, you’ll have to start paying me royalties.”

“Who is this woman, Mister Epocan?”  
“She wouldn’t tell me, but she’s made it pretty clear she’s no threat.”

An audible grumble and furrowed brow from the disgruntled young Viera.

“Anyway, Saitou and Nagai was it? Miss Hana is safe now. I assume the payment will arrive via the usual means.” The men bowed graciously without a word, but the girl remained unmoving, a dead yet calm expression. In a flash of smoke, the trio was gone, leaving only the Veena and Keeper.

“Anyway, try not to interfere with professional business in the future, but if you ever want to learn how to actually handle a firearm, I’m sure you’ll figure out where to find me, Jackrabbit.”

She rose to her feet, watching as the man secured the large case on his back and grappled to the railing of a nearby balcony. Her ears twitched as she glanced at the floor, sliding her boot, revealing a small business card, “Khova’to Epocan, Blazin’ Ace. For all your rooty tooty stab and shooty needs. Disclaimer: Self-destructing business card. Do not eat.”

Her nostrils flared once more, taking in a faint whiff of gunpowder. Almost instantaneously, the card turned into a fluttering display of floating ash.

“Oh I’ll find you, all right. And in no time, you’ll be under my heel.”

======

The door creaked ominously with no one behind it, as if it had been opened by a ghost.

Sipping Doman tea from a steaming cup, Hana sat, seemingly unaffected by the apparent poltergeist which now began letting forth a loud, muffled groan. Suddenly, a ghostly white figure appeared, wispy hair bouncing as it leapt over the defeated man on the ground, “Morning, Hana!” The topless Veena cheered with a wave.

Hana looked once more towards the ground and the source of the not-really-haunting. Khova’to, clad only in his underwear, continued to drag himself across the floor and hoist himself into a chair before promptly falling to the ground again.

“You’d think for a man of his reputation and skillset, he’d put up a better fight in bed,” Sighed Fjon with an arrogant tone, propping the refrigerator door on her calf as she brought a jug of milk to her lips.

He managed to successfully right himself in his chair, gazing around the messy kitchen. The drying rack bore only three plates and about five cylinders, a cookie sheet full of empty casings sat upon the cooling rack, the dining table was stacked with an array of mismatching parts and worn out tools.

Thud!

The Viera pulled the glass jug from her lips and spun on her heel, gazing upon the Miqo’te, whose face was once again melded with the cold tile floor. Gracefully, she sauntered over, placing her backside upon the small of his back, “You okay there, Blazin’ Ass?”

“Don’t call me that,” he groaned.

“Tamed yet unashamed  
The lion by the rabbit  
Truth lies in the roars.”

Khova’to’s eyes shot open, glancing up at the Raincaller in unison with his lapine companion upon the realization of the haiku’s implications, “Shut the hells up, Hana!” they insisted.

“No.”


End file.
